Elite Sports Scientist Dr Stephen Bird join the Sportly Team

Athlete development management platform Sportly has announced that leading sports scientist Dr Stephen Bird will be joining its team.

Joining with Sportly, Dr Bird will be assisting the enhancement of Sportly’s existing platform capabilities, supporting junior and pre-elite athletes to maximise their potential.

Dr Bird’s extensive elite sport science career includes working with professional sports teams and international sporting organisations attending major sporting events, including Olympic Games (2008 Beijing and 2016 Rio), Commonwealth Games (2018 Basketball Scotland and 2022 Basketball New Zealand), FIBA Women’s Asia Cup (New Zealand Tall Ferns), Rugby League World Cup (Scotland Rugby League), UCI Mountain Bike World Cup and World Championships (Australia and Indonesia national team).

He has also worked with teams in the NRL, National Basketball League and Women’s National Basketball League, along with High Performance Coaching and Athlete Development roles for PNG Sports Foundation, Basketball NSW and Basketball WA.

He is currently the Athlete Health and Performance Lead at Basketball New Zealand.

Announcing the appointment, Spotify said founder and Chief Executive, Damien Thomson stated “Birdy’s vast knowledge combined with his passion for sport and practical experience makes him the perfect addition to the Sportly team.

“Over his career he has designed cutting edge methodology for developing junior athletes with a focus on functional strength and athlete recovery. We will be working with him to activate these within the Sportly platform, and make them available to our clients.”

Dr Bird (pictured) added “having worked alongside the team at Sportly on projects, I was incredibly impressed with the platform they have built and the unique approach they have taken to junior sport.

“The opportunity for me to provide direct input into the science behind the platform and use this to help develop our future elite athletes is very exciting.”

Dr Bird’s Athlete Movement Quality Screen™ will be available as a premium service to Sportly’s customers from late January, coinciding with the release of the Sportly for Parents mobile app.